Thursday, March 10, 2011

I think I got screwed...dui. Whats your opinion?

Ok let's begin. I live in Ohio btw. So just monday I was in an accident. On the road in which it took place we were under level 2 snow emergency. While doing about ten mph while beginning a turn a grey truck slid and its rear bumper came into contact with my front fender on drivers side. So after hitting my head on the window and losing control myself a little i got control of my car. I open my door and lean out and look back and the truck was not seen. So rather than stop and get out and walk in a blizzard looking for a truck that I thought kept driving, I started to continue driving looking for a driveway to stop and get off the road. Because in Ohio its not 'find a safe place to pull over or get off the roadway...its stop and leave yourself and property in the road on a curve in a snowstorm at the mercy of other drivers coming along in a serious snowstorm with weather center reported under 0.2 mile visibility. But if the other party cant be found i.e. me looking behind me and him being gone you must then report the time,date, yada yada to the police withing 24 hours. Which is what I was going to do when I could find somewhere to stop. Everything snowed in cause its kinda a country curvy road. I end up pulling in at walmart about a half mile from the scene of the accident. I no sooner pull in and before even turning my car off and getting out to look at my car a state patrolman is at my window playing 20 questions. Apparently an 'eye witness' {in a whiteout condition on a snow covered road) claimed I was left of center and called me in for hit and run! And what 'center' line did he see me left of on covered roads. So while the officer plays hardass about sayin I was tryin to 'hide-out' and other crap he pulls the 'i smell alcohol' card and then tells me I'm under arrest for 'hit and skip'. not dui at that time. So while in 'custody' in his car on the way to the station i say 'do I need to get a lawyer or what?' To which he responds not at this time...First of all if I'm under arrest and keep in mind at this time it was for hit and skip only; Don't I HAVE to be entitled a lawyer especially if I ask for one? And don't I HAVE to be mirandized if hes taking me back to the station to ask me sensitive questions about the accident and such? Then when at the station he has me perform field sobriety tests... In the patrol car bay garage. Which was dimlit, sloped, wet, slippery and had to 9 step and turn over this ground and did i mention in the middle of my 'line' was a storm drain? And I had on snowy sneakers. So then after supposedly failing that impossible test he gives me the HGN or whatever and says I failed. After some post experience web searching he was supposed to give me that test at a distance of 12-15 inches. I'm pretty sure close enough to see the metal scratch swirls on the chrome tip of his pen isnt 12 inches. And he was supposed to ask if I had suffered any injuries or hits to my head in the accident. Did ask if injured which I said no but never asked if I had hit my head which I had. So I fail that test too apparently. He also administered the tests on the side of his car where there was likely no cameras like the front and rear. He says yea ur under the influence which I wasnt and by this time I kinda figured that I was set up from the get and decided enough is enough. I wasnt doing anything else until I speak with a lawyer. He asks me to take a breath test. I refuse on principal. He then tells me my license is suspended for a year for refusing. And THEN read me an implied consent warning which I later found out should have been read before offering me to take or refuse the test and my paperwork even proves that it was after. And later learned that he was supposed to have observed me for 20 mins without doing anything else to ensure I had not ingested anything. Which from the time he first came up to me at walmart and the time of my refusal was exactly thirty mins. I had an attorney tell me for free that alone is grounds to get the immediate suspension overturned that there is no way he talked with you at the store, drove to the station, properly gave field tests that should have taken around ten minutes alone if properly done, talked some more and then observed me for 20 mins. Oh yea and the best part was he must have 'forgot' to give me the back side of a form that tells me how to appeal the immediate suspension. And in Ohio if a suspected dui is part of an accident the officer has the right to get a warrant to mandate a chemical test which he didnt do because he knew I wasnt intox'd and didnt want to piss off a judge with a bad hunch. And he must inform me of my right to get an independent test done at a facility of my choice which he didnt do. And I'm sure there is more I left out that I forgot as far as other things he probably did wrong. I say that not biased but because a couple law

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